Machine for treating rubber or other plastic material



Nov. 17, 1925- D. R. BOWEN ET AL MACHINE FOR TREATING RUBBER OR OTHERPLASTIC MATERIAL Originhl Filed July 11, 1919 s Sheets-Sheet 1 YZlwuentoo v Nov. 17,1925. r

.- D. R. BOWEN ET AL guwamz m TREATING RUBBER OR 0mm PLASTIC MATERIALOriginal Filed July 11, 9

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 pnllnllllllll I IIIII y IIIIIIIL Nov. 17, 1925- D. R.BOWEN ET AL MACHINE FOR TREATING RUBBER OR OTHER PLASTIC MATERIALOriginal Filed July 11. 1919 5' Sheets-sheaf s Wit W Quorum;

Patented Nov. 17, 1925.

UNITED STATES I 1,561,903 PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID R. BOWEN. OF ANSONIA, AND CARL F. SCHNUCK, OF NEW HAVEN CONNECTI-CQ'T, ASSIGNORS TO FARREL FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY, OF ANSONIA, CON-NECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

MACHINE FOR TREATING RUBBER OR OTHER PLASTIC MATERIAL.

Original application filed July 11, 1919, Serial No. 310,020. Dividedand this application filed February 1 10, 1922. Serial No. 535,651

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, DAVID R. BOWEN and CARL F. SCHNUCK, both citizensof the United States, the first residing in Ansonia, county of NewHaven, State of Connecticut, and the second residing in New Haven,county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Machines for Treating Rubber or Other PlasticMaterial, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention relates to machines for mixing or masticating' rubber andlike material, and it has particular reference to machines of the typedescribed in our application Serial No. 310,020, filed July 11, 1919,now Patent #l,420,959, of which the present application is a division.

One of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide amachine in which a bladed rotor has an especially efficient and thoroughmixing, masticating, or kneading action on the material, and wherein,nevertheless, the mixing or working chamber can be very readily chargedand discharged.

Another object is to furnish a machine suitable for the compounding ofrubber and like material in which a single bladed rotor is enclosed by asubstantially circumferentially continuous hollow cylinder constitutingthe working chamberysuch cylinder being closed substantially throughoutits length during the mixing or masticating operation so as to confinethe rotor on all sides and thereby increase the masticating effect; andin which it is possible to introduce into the cylinder, material to bemixed or otherwise treated without interfering in any way with theeflicient mixing action of the machine.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the novel featuresand combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a masticator embodying our improvements;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view;

Fig. at is an enlarged. section on line 4- -4 of Fig. 1;

The machine selected for illustration comprises a casing 10 in the formof a hollow, cylinder, the axis of which is horizontally arranged andwithin which is a hollow cylindrical working chamber 10 J ournalled inthe working chamber is a horizontal shaft 11 having blades 12 operatingin the respective end portions of the chamber. In the form shown, thereis only one blade in each chamber end. These blades have faces 12 whichmash or smear the material against the transversely curved innerperiphery of the chamber by a sortof wedging action; and blades in therespective chamber ends are arranged on the shaft at such angles as toWork portions of the material from the chamber extremities toward thecenter while simultaneously shift.- ing the material around theperiphery of the chamber. One of the blades works the material from oneend portion of the chamberinto the other, wherein it is taken up by theotherblade and returned to the first named end portion of the chamber.Thus the material is worked back and forth in the chamber in a generallylongitudinal direction, while having a rotary motion about the chamberperiphery. At the intermediate portion of the chamber the same isconstricted by providing on the inner chamber wall, the interiorlyprojecting transverse rib 13 to which the rotor hubs and the bladesconform so as to obtain, in addition to the mashing or smearing action,an extrusion of the rubber or other material alternately in oppositedirections through the constricted .opening thus provided, as describedin our Patent No. 1,379,616, of May 13, 1921.

The rotor shaft can be driven by power in i any suitable manner. Thebearings for this shaft are provided on the cylinder heads which closethe cylinder at the ends; and these cylinder heads are preferably madeintegral with the legs 14 by means of which the casing is supportedabove the floor. The

casing 10 is preferably made up of a plurality of curved sectionsinterposed between and secured to the cylinder heads which aredesignated by 15 and 16, respectively. The curved casing sectionsconstituting the, side wall of the mixing cylinder may comprise twofixed sections 10 meeting each other at the top of the casing and amovable discharge section-10 at the lower part of the chamber. Thedischarge section 10 is of the swinging type being pivoted at 17 andforming, in effect, a swingable curved wall section of the casing at thelower portion thereof.

lVhen the chamber is to be discharged, the discharge section 10 which iscontrolled by suitable closing and locking mechanism, fully described inthe parent application, is permitted to swing down by gravity into theopen position about the axis of the pivot member 17.

In the embodiment selected for illustration, the charging opening islocated in the head 16. It is formed adjacent the bottom of a charginghopper 18 which is preferably integral with the head 16. The hopper has95 an inclined bottom, and its inner side is open so that materialsliding down on the hopper bottom may pass freely by gravity into theend portion of the working cylinder. For facilitating the drawing in ofthe material from the hopper by means of the rotor, one

or more small projecting members 19 may be applied to the inner surface,of the cylindrical chamber wall as described in our ap-- plicationSerial No. 310,020 now Patent The operation of the machine will beobvious from the foregoing description. It willbe-observed thatsubstantiall throughout its length the bladed rotor 15 confined on allsides by the transversely curved and substantially transverselycontinuous wall of the working chamber, so that the rotor has a veryeffective masticating or mixing action on the material throughout thechamber periphery. This considerably increases the efficiency of themachine as compared to those of the duplex type found on the market,wherein only partially cylindrical chambers are arranged side by sidewith an open communicating space where the material is subjected to verylittle, if any, kneading action against the chamber wall. In our machinethe chamber is entirely closed at its mi ddle portion during the mixingoperation and is closed, moreover, substantially throughout its len th.The batch of material is introduced into the end portion of the chamberWithout interfering with the mashing or smearing of the material againstsubstantially the entire area of the inner curved surface of thechamber. In the particular example illustrated, the material isintroduced through the end wall of the chamber, but this is notnecessary in all cases as other provisions for charging may be madewithtending cross-section at its middle portion and substantiallythroughout its length so as to provide a surface of large area againstwhich the rotor works the material, back and forth in a generallylongitudinal direction while the material is simultaneously moved aroundthe circumference of the cylinder. When it is desired to discharge themachine, however, the swingable wall section 10 may be-readily droppedto the discharging position as described in the prior application. Thegravity feed member on the end of the cylinder provides for the chargingby gravity of the entire mass of material to be treated which, where themachine is used as a rubber compounding machine, consists of chunks ofrubber, powder, coloring or filling material, and the like. It will beobvious that, in our improved machine, it is possible, after theinitiation of the mixing of the rubber chunks with powder, filler or thelike, to introduce additional powder or additional rubber or both, intothe mixing cylinder at the end thereof without interrupting theoperation of the machine.

Various changes may be made in the details of the construction Withoutdeparting from the scope of our invention as set forth in the claims.

We consider it advantageous to reduce the diameter of the workingchamber at its middle portion, as described, for the purpose ofproducing an extrusion action, but it will be obvious that in certaincases the extrusion rib or its equivalent may be omitted; and so far asthe present invention is concerned, the projection 19 or its equivalentfor facilitating the inward movement of the material from the hopper mayalso be omitted without sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

We do not claim broadly herein the method of mixing or masticatingrubber or like material by an extrusion action, as claimed in ourapplication Serial No. 223,537 now Patent #1,460,938; nor do we claimbroadly herein a masticator having a continuous annular extrusion ribcooperating with a bladed rotor as claimed in our application Serial No.311,141 new Patent #1,496,620; nor do we claim herein, broadly, themethod of mixing or ll i sticating rubber or similar material, whichcomprises working the same around and back and forth against asubstantially circumferentially continuous cylindrical mixing surface ofsubstantial area, as claimed in our application Serial No. 458,222; nordo we claim herein the .combination, in a machine of the characterdescribed, of a working chamber, pedestals supporting said chamber, saidpedestals being provided with extensions forming the ends of saidchamber, and hinged sections supported between said ends and forming thesides of said chamber, as claimed in our application Serial No. 423,365now Patent #l,530,808. I

\Vhat we claim is:

1. A rubber working or similar machine having a working chamberconsisting of an elongated single cylinder provided with a substantiallycontinuous circumference and with an end charging opening through whichthe materials to be mixed move by gravity directly into the chamber, andmeans for working the material back and forth therein.

2. A rubber working machine having a chamber consisting of an elongatedsingle cylinder provided with a substantially continuous circumferenceand with an end gravity-feed hopper for the entire charge to be mixed,leading directly into the cylinder, and a bladed rotor in the cylinderfor working the material back and forth thereher and in, said cylinderhaving a shiftable Wall section providing for the discharge of thetreated material.

3. The method of mixing rubber chunks with powdered filler or the like,which comprises working the preliminary mixture against a substantiallycircumferentially continuous. cylindrical mixing surface so thatthe massmoves around such surface while having at the same time a movementgenerally longitudinally thereof in opposite directions, and introducingadditional rubpowder from one end of the cylinder. I

4; A rubber mixer having a chamber consisting of a single cylinderclosed at its middle portion but provided with an end gravity-feedopening for rubber and powder, leading directly into the cylinder, and abladed rotorfor working the material back and forth against thechamberwall.

5. A rubber mixer having a chamber consisting of a single elongatedcylinder, having a substantially continuous circumference, and providedwith a gravity-feed hopper at the end thereof through which thematerials to be mixed move by gravity into saidcylinder, and a bladedrotor for working the material back and forth against the chamber wall.

6. A rubber mixing machine having a' chamber consisting of an elongatedcylinrotor for moving the material back and forth in the cylinder, and ahopper providing for the charging of the entire mass of material to betreated, directly into the chamber by gravity at the end portionthereof, and means providing for the discharge of the cylinder at itslower part.

7. A rubber mixer or like machine having a working chamber consisting ofa single cylinder presenting a closed circumferentially extendingcross-section at its middle portion and substantially through out itslength, a rotor for working the material back and forth in the cylinderagainst the inner surface of its cylindrical wall, a gravity-feed hopperon the end of the eyl-, inder leading directly into the cylinder andproviding for the charging by gravity of theentire mass of material tobe treated, into said cylinder, said cylinder having a swingable wall.seetion providing for the discharge thereof at its lower part.

8. A rubber mixer or like machine hav ing a working chamber in-the formof a eircumferentially continuous elongated cylinder closedsubstantially throughout the length thereof, a bladed rotor in saidcylinder for working the material back and forth therein while smearingit against and moving it around the inner surface of the cylindricalwall, and a charging hopper providing for the charging of the entiremass of material to be, treated, into the chamber at the end fionthereof, said cylinder having a hinge wall section providing for thedischarge thereof at th lower part of the cylinder.

9. A rubber working or similar machine having a working chamber providedwith a transversely curved and transversely continuous inner surfacethroughout substantially its entire length, means for providing for thecharging of the material into said chamber at the end portion thereof,and a bladed rotor in said working chamber for working the material backand forth therein and around the curved wall thereof.

10.. A rubber working or similar machine having a working chamberprovided with thereof and at the ends, means providing for the chargingof the entire batch of material to be treated into the chamber at theend portion thereof, and a bladed rotor in said chamber for working thematerial from the ends thereof toward the center and shifting suchmaterial around the entire inner perlpher") of the chamber whilemaintaining it in contact therewith.

In Witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands on the 8th day ofFebruary 1922.

DAVID R. BOV'EN. CARL F. SCHNUCK.

